School Gets $5,000 to Buy Library Books

The library at Garden Grove School is filled with the work of students. Laminated drawings hang on the wall next to maps and charts.

The only thing missing are the books. Rows and rows of wooden shelves are empty, dust settling on the surface where there should be hardcovers and paperbacks.

On Thursday, the Reseda elementary school got a step closer to being able to fill the shelves when Los Angeles City Atty. Jim Hahn gave Garden Grove School $5,000 to purchase books through the Schoolbook Partners Fund, a special project of the California Community Fund targeted at purchasing books for L.A. Unified School District campuses.

“Books are the fuel for the young people’s minds,” Hahn said at a special presentation in the library attended by school and district officials, students and representatives from the fund. “If we’re really serious about diverting these kids from crime and drugs, then we have to be willing to help them and books are one way to do that.”

Thursday’s donation was part of a larger one a defendant was required to make as part of a court-ordered settlement with the city attorney’s office. La Curacao Inc., which operates a furniture store in Panorama City, donated the money as part of its sentence after the company pleaded no contest to one count of violating a state labor code safety regulation. The company was charged after an employee, Cesar R. Ponce, was killed in a freight elevator accident.

The company was ordered to donate an additional $20,000 to the California Community Fund to purchase books for other schools, Hahn said.

Garden Grove School, which reopened in September after being closed for 13 years, was chosen to receive $5,000 because of its urgent need for books. According to Principal Peggy Scaramastra, the school only had enough money to purchase half of the $120,000 worth of books needed to fill the library.

“This donation will definitely go a long way and we’re grateful to receive it,” she said.

So were students. Tyler Stellpflue, La Shanay Urssery, Jose Roman, and Isabel Topalian were all excited about the prospect of getting Goosebumps, Animorphs and sports books in their library.

“If it was up to me, I guess I’d like to buy some Goosebumps books. They’re my favorite,” said La Shanay Urssery, 11.